We all have our opinions of what is right and/or wrong with the Country, but what do you think should be the main focus of this year's Presidential election?

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February 21st, 2012, 4:44 pm

TheRealWags

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Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

I say the Economy, because without a stable and rising economy, well everything else doesn't / won't matter.

With poor economy there will be no jobs.Never been a fan of the "anybody but X" crowd / line of thinking.IMO govt has NO business dealing w/social issues

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February 21st, 2012, 4:47 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

Economy is jobs. We need to even out the trade crap with China, get unions and wages in check, balance the budget to strengthen the dollar, and go forward with infrastructure projects THAT MAKE SENSE and that will AID our recovery. I'm not talking about building a dog park that will employ no one for $500k. I'm talking about the oil pipeline, open up new areas for drilling oil, reducing gas prices, and pumping our dollars back into America through the private sector.

However, honestly, the focus should be on the economy. Nothing else will even matter if we don't get that fixed before we fall off the cliff of insolvency.

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February 21st, 2012, 4:55 pm

TheRealWags

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Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

wjb21ndtown wrote:

Economy is jobs.

Updated the poll.....

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February 21st, 2012, 4:59 pm

TheRealWags

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Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

TheRealWags wrote:

wjb21ndtown wrote:

Economy is jobs.

Updated the poll.....

CRAP! Apparently that removed everyone's votes....sorry

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February 21st, 2012, 4:59 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

TheRealWags wrote:

TheRealWags wrote:

wjb21ndtown wrote:

Economy is jobs.

Updated the poll.....

CRAP! Apparently that removed everyone's votes....sorry

Dammit... so you can't go back and make someone vote for something that they didn't initially vote for? I can see how a socialist would be mad about that (hence your "CRAP!" comment). ;-)

I can see how some people can see them as being separate issues, but I really don't. It does have an element of "trickle down economics" that some say is bunk. However, IMO the only reason that tde doesn't work is because of the global market. The corporations are hiring more, they're just doing it over seas right now, because we have made it profitable. We have allowed unfair trade agreements, poor working conditions over seas, poor environmental standards, etc. to take place in countries that we do business with.

It makes absolutely no sense to impose ridiculous restrictions on American companies that are something like 80-85% efficient and allow China to operate and manufacture our goods at a rate of being something like 60-65% efficient. They're polluting on a much larger scale and to a much higher degree than we are. Do you know that something like 20-30% of the mercury found in the great lakes is from China? That's ridiculous! If we have ZERO mercury emissions in N. America we're still going to have some 30% of the problem because they pollute THAT much over there.

February 21st, 2012, 5:13 pm

njroar

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Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

It should and will end up being about the economy. The administration purposely interjected the social issues at the time that they did to try to switch the narrative and it backfired. It woke up the large amount of people that think social issues are important but had given in to the trend they were taking. The free contraception and day-after abortion for all just went too far for them.

There's still no denying that the 8.3% unemployment was reached by dropping 1.2 million off the list (largest amount in 30 years) and are now counting only 67.3 percent of the population. The polls show that unemployment will jump back to 9% for February. That's not going to look good for the administration.

Don't let the spring conversations about conservatism between candidates on the republican side sway you into thinking that's going to be the talking points come July. When you've got another graduation class that can't find jobs, you're going to see a serious sway in support. Those young voters that were just starting college when Obama made his initial promises are finding out how bad the job market is, they will vote the other way or not vote at all. He's lost a lot of the support in that age bracket already.

February 22nd, 2012, 12:26 pm

TheRealWags

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Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

Wasn't sure where else to put this....food for thought..........

Reason wrote:

Pandering at the PumpIf you want to find wisdom about gasoline markets, avoid Washington, D.C.

Steve Chapman | February 27, 2012

In the field of petroleum, location is everything. If you want to find oil, you don't drill in Rhode Island. And if you want to find wisdom about gasoline markets, you avoid Washington, D.C.

In good times, the confusion and folly of our elected leaders have only limited impact. But when pump prices rise to painful levels, as they have lately, you can safely assume that whatever politicians say and do will be poorly conceived and ill-motivated.

As of last week, the cost of regular gas nationally averaged $3.65 a gallon—up from $3.23 a year ago and double what it was when Barack Obama became president. In some places it exceeds $4.

The price of milk or ground beef may climb without setting off mass outrage, but gasoline is more visible and harder to do without. And the great advantage is that when fuel gets expensive, each party has ready-made villains to roll out.

For Democrats, it's capitalists, who are held in low esteem for their preoccupation with making money. The other day House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi—who has a net worth of at least $35 million -- announced that the price increases were the result of "Wall Street profiteering" and "speculators who care more about their profits than the price at the pump."

But as George Mason University economist Lawrence H. White has pointed out, blaming greed for a particular economic problem is like blaming gravity for a plane crash. Speculators and Wall Street executives were not any less greedy in the days when gas was cheap. If greed explained prices, they would always be high.

Speculation is just another term for trying to prepare for the future. Lately, fears have spread that tensions with Iran will lead to war, which would reduce the world's supply of oil. When supply declines, prices rise.

If the worst happens, speculators who bet on it will make money. If it doesn't, they will lose money. But they don't cause the ups and downs any more than surfers cause waves.

On the Republican side, there is only slightly greater understanding of how the market functions. Newt Gingrich brags that when he was speaker of the House, gas went for $1.13 a gallon, which is a powerful argument—for returning him to the House leadership, provided he can reinstall Bill Clinton in the White House.

Gingrich says that as president, he'll bring prices down as low as $2 a gallon. How? His plan is to "dramatically expand our capacity to produce energy." It's a variant on the 2008 Republican chant: "Drill, baby, drill!"

But if John McCain preached that mantra, Obama has practiced it. Since he arrived, the number of drilling rigs in operation has more than tripled. Domestic production, which fell by 11 percent under George W. Bush, has grown by 10 percent.

Yet prices have risen, because—surprise of surprises—the United States is only part of the global market. All sorts of events around the world, good and bad, affect oil supply and demand.

As we learned a few years ago, there is nothing like a brutal recession to make gasoline a bargain. As the American economy has recovered, our demand has picked up. Worldwide demand for oil has also risen steadily in recent months. Both help to account for the price jump.

The main explanation, though, is the prospect of a military confrontation that would cut off shipments from the world's fourth largest oil producer. Republicans blame Obama for not attacking Iran at the same time they attack him for high gas prices. But nothing would do more to raise prices than an attack on Iran.

Obama himself was in Florida Thursday delivering the message that, as a New York Times story recounted, "neither he nor anyone else can do much about oil prices." So true. But where did anyone get the idea that the president could affect oil prices?

Possibly from this president. Last summer, he released 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—to make sure the upheaval in Libya didn't inconvenience American motorists filling up over the Fourth of July weekend.

Republican and Democratic officeholders in Washington disagree on many things. But on the proposition that they should decide the price of gasoline, unity prevails.

Obama and those in his administration have openly said that the way to ween people off their dependance is to raise prices, not lower them. Of course he'll pass off blame as something he can't control, but his actions have directly contributed. He claims that Oil drilling has increased under his administration, and it has, but not due to his actions. Private land drilling has increased, while government land drilling has decreased.

What is focused on during the primaries, will be completely different once all the focus is on Obama.

February 27th, 2012, 3:42 pm

Pablo

RIP Killer

Joined: August 6th, 2004, 9:21 amPosts: 9596Location: Dallas

Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

The focus of the election should be to throw out everyone and start all over. Congress needs to be flushed. Same for the two political parties.

The focus of the 2012 should be something it never is - the future. Think about it, when virtually everyone here votes for the economy/jobs - it is all in the short run. Short term thinking is going to be the slow death of this country.

We need to, at some part, start making some tough decisions which are going to make it a difficult few years. We need a president who is basically willing to sacrifice his term in president for the future of this country. Someone who is going to not only balance the budget, but force the country to spend less than what it takes in to really reduce the deficit. We need to dramatically reduce the size of government and at the same time make it much more efficient.

This country is basically bankrupt, yet we just print and borrow more. Doesn't seem to matter what the problem is or which party is in charge, the answer is always the same - print and borrow more. How anybody can keep voting for these fools is beyond me.

The U.S. once again may be emerging as a main engine for global growth -- and at an opportune time, as Europe slides into recession and China’s economy decelerates.

An improving job market, rising stock prices and easier credit are combining to lift U.S. consumer confidence and spending, with optimism measured by the Bloomberg Comfort Index near a four-year high. Personal-consumption expenditures increased by the most in seven months in February, rising 0.8 percent, the Commerce Department said last week.

“We’re entering a sweet spot for the economy,” said Allen Sinai, president of Decision Economics Inc. in New York. “We’re in a self-reinforcing cycle,” where faster employment growth leads to higher household income and increased consumer spending.

International companies, including Milan-based Gianni Versace SpA (GIAN), already are benefiting. Revenue for the Italian designer will rise at a “really strong double-digit” pace this year in the U.S., compared with “a significant single-digit” amount in Europe, according to Chief Executive Officer Gian Giacomo Ferraris.

“America is doing fantastic,” he said last month.

The blossoming of the U.S. expansion comes amid a slowdown in China, until now the pacesetter for the world. While a purchasing-managers’ index rose to a one-year high in March, according to China’s logistics federation and the National Bureau of Statistics, analysts said the gain was seasonal and pointed to a separate index produced by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics that showed manufacturing contracted and export orders fell last month.

Reduced China Forecast

Premier Wen Jiabao cut this year’s growth target to 7.5 percent last month from an 8 percent goal in place since 2005 as officials seek to shift the economy toward more consumption. That’s down from last year’s 9.2 percent expansion.

For China and some other emerging economies, the policy goal is to “gradually bring inflation down” to help achieve a so-called soft landing, Chinese central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in the southern Chinese island of Hainan today.

The 17-nation euro-area, meantime, is flirting with recession after gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, the first contraction since 2009. Manufacturing contracted in March, and unemployment rose to 10.8 percent in February, the highest in more than 14 years, reports showed yesterday.

‘Big Plus’

All this means the consumer rebound in the U.S. “is a big plus for Europe and Asia,” as companies in the two regions will see increased demand for their exports, said Joseph Carson, director of global economic research at AllianceBernstein LP in New York. The U.S. trade deficit widened 4.3 percent in January to $52.6 billion, the largest since October 2008, as imports rose to a record high.

U.S. consumer spending was the “fundamental reason” department-store sales for Prada SpA increased in the year ended Jan. 31, the maker of $2,950 perforated patent-leather handbags said March 29. The Milan-based company reported net income rose 72 percent to 431.9 million euros ($574 million) for the period, topping analysts’ forecasts.

North American deliveries of Accord sedans and Civic compacts will lead the strongest business results in at least five years for Japan’s Honda Motor Co. (7267), President Takanobu Ito forecast in January.

The 12 months ending March 2013 “will be the year of the complete rebound,” he said in an interview at the company’s Tokyo headquarters. “We’ll introduce a fully revamped Accord in the fall, and that will be a big plus to our sales.”

Household Spending

U.S. households spent $10.7 trillion in 2011, accounting for about 70 percent of GDP, according to the Commerce Department. That’s more than China’s total GDP of $7 trillion last year, based on International Monetary Fund figures.

“The consumer economy of the U.S. is the biggest in the world,” Sinai said.

He estimates the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will end the year around 1,500, compared with 1,419.04 (SPX) yesterday at 4:00 p.m. in New York, as growth strengthens to as much as 3 percent this year from 1.7 percent in 2011. The index has risen 13 percent since Dec. 31.

The dollar also will benefit from the shifting pattern of global expansion, said Stephen Jen, a managing partner at the London-based hedge fund SLJ Macro Partners LLP. He predicts it will rise toward parity against the Australian dollar and also gain compared with emerging-market exchange rates. The so-called Aussie climbed 0.7 percent yesterday to $1.0419.

“The world is set up to allow the undervalued dollar to reassert itself,” Jen said.

Spending Recovers

U.S. consumers helped power the global economy from 1995 through 2007, as their spending was boosted first by a run-up in stock prices and then by the housing bubble. Personal- consumption expenditures rose at an average annual inflation- adjusted rate of 3.5 percent during the period. After nose- diving in the recession, spending has recovered to grow at an annual 2.1 percent pace.

A return to the heady pre-slump days isn’t likely as households still are burdened with debt, according to Nariman Behravesh, chief economist in Lexington, Massachusetts, at IHS Inc. (IHS) “The U.S. won’t be as powerful an engine as it was, maybe four-cylinder rather than six- or eight-cylinder,” he said.

That still will be welcome news for many companies.

‘Big Potential’

Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB), Europe’s second-largest clothing retailer, is “growing fast” in the U.S., where it continues to open stores, Nils Vinge, head of investor relations, told reporters on March 29. The Stockholm, Sweden-based company also sees “big potential” for its planned U.S. online business, according to Chief Executive Officer Karl-Johan Persson.

Daimler AG (DAI) Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche said Feb. 9 the “U.S. certainly is the bright spot as far as the development in the recent months is concerned.” American sales of the company’s Mercedes-Benz models rose 17 percent that month compared with a year earlier. Meanwhile, Mercedes dealers in China are offering record discounts of as much as 25 percent.

President Barack Obama should get a boost in his bid to win re-election in November if the U.S. economy strengthens and the job market continues to improve. Unemployment held at a three- year low of 8.3 percent in March, and payrolls rose by more than 200,000 workers for a fourth consecutive month, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The Labor Department will release last month’s figures on April 6.

Better Off

More Americans say they are personally better off since Obama took office in January 2009 than worse off, a Bloomberg National Poll found last month. That’s the first favorable reading for the president on that question since Bloomberg began asking it in December 2010.

The U.S. is taking the lead in global growth, thanks in part to a domestic glut of natural gas, Larry Kantor, head of research at Barclays in New York, wrote in a March 22 report. Natural-gas futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to 10-year lows last week, helping to blunt the impact of higher oil prices on the economy.

U.S. manufacturers are benefiting, with the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index climbing to 53.4 (NAPMPMI) last month, beating the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey, from 52.4 in February, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said yesterday. Readings greater than 50 signal growth.

Clearly Led

The recovery “has been an emerging-market -- really a Chinese-led -- story, with the U.S. having lagged the cycle,” Kantor said. “Now, however, the U.S. has reasserted its traditional role, and the current pickup in growth is clearly being led by the U.S.”

Americans are better positioned to spend because of the progress they’ve made in repairing their balance sheets, helped by record-low interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve, Carson said. The central bank cut the federal funds rate commercial banks charge each other for overnight loans to zero to 0.25 percent in December 2008 and has suggested it will hold there until late 2014.

Household financial obligations -- everything from mortgages and rents to property taxes and car-lease payments -- fell to a 28-year low in the fourth quarter, when measured against disposable income, according to Fed data. That ratio stood at 15.9 percent at the end of 2011, down from a record 18.9 percent in the third quarter of 2007, just before the start of the 18-month recession that ended in June 2009.

Spending Capacity

The capacity of consumers to spend “has been greatly enhanced now that financial obligations absorb a much smaller share of overall income,” Carson wrote in a March 16 report. So GDP growth this year could exceed 3 percent, he predicted.

Households also are finding it easier to borrow, as their creditworthiness increases and banks become less stingy with loans. Consumer credit rose $17.8 billion in January to $2.51 trillion, capping the biggest three-month gain in more than a decade, Fed figures show.

Even as the outlook improves, potential pitfalls remain. Increased tensions in the Middle East over Iran’s nuclear program could drive oil prices higher, sapping Americans’ spending power. The U.S. also faces a potential budget crunch at the end of the year, when some $450 billion worth of tax increases and spending cuts are slated to kick in unless Congress takes action to block them.

“I hope we don’t have an accident and dive off the fiscal cliff and crash,” Sinai said.

Full Recovery

It is “far too early to declare victory” for the economy, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week, according to a transcript of an interview with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer provided by the network. “We haven’t quite yet got to the point where we can be completely confident that we’re on a track to full recovery.”

Some private economists sound more upbeat.

“The American consumer is definitely coming back,” said Bluford Putnam, chief economist at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and a former official at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He predicts expansion of as much as 4 percent this year and no more Fed bond purchases after two rounds of so- called quantitative easing totaling $2.3 trillion.

“We’re in great shape for the economy to do very well this year,” he said. “Not a super-strong engine, but it will be a positive factor on global growth, as opposed to being sluggish.”

I can say that the company I work for is doing raises/promotions for the 1st time in 3yrs. Just my 2 cents.

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April 3rd, 2012, 2:28 pm

njroar

Player of the Year - Offense

Joined: September 25th, 2007, 3:20 amPosts: 2841

Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

I think its telling that as soon as Bernake backs away a little bit from possibility of QE3 happening, stocks drop. The current growth is basically a stimulus bubble. Inflation is a serious problem because we've kept interest rates too low for too long. Of course everything looks good right after the holiday season. Can it stay that way through the summer as gas prices drive up the prices of everything else?

Debt and Deficit are still increasing. Wall Street isn't the economy.

April 3rd, 2012, 3:51 pm

LionsFan4Life

Fired Head Coach (0-16 record)

Joined: October 30th, 2004, 12:30 pmPosts: 2205Location: Austin, TX

Re: What should the focus of the 2012 Pres Election be?

njroar wrote:

I think its telling that as soon as Bernake backs away a little bit from possibility of QE3 happening, stocks drop. The current growth is basically a stimulus bubble. Inflation is a serious problem because we've kept interest rates too low for too long. Of course everything looks good right after the holiday season. Can it stay that way through the summer as gas prices drive up the prices of everything else?